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A Great NU Idea

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of Ben’s Biz Blog. It’s “Head and Shoulders” above the rest, and a whole “Lottery” of fun to read!

Today I’d like to highlight a worthwhile initiative that every Minor League club can quickly and easily assist with. It was brought to my attention last month by loyal reader Mike Gilmartin, and I’m happy to spread the word. Kevin Schneider, 35, is a developmentally disabled super-fan of Northwestern University athletics, and one of his greatest passions in life is collecting schedule cards of ALL professional sports teams. This article on NUSports.com tells the full story — here are some pertinent excerpts:

We in Northwestern Athletics have a friend we want to introduce to you. His name is Kevin Schneider, and you can’t miss him at our games.

Kevin cheering on the home team. (photo from NUSports.com)

Kevin is a 35-year-old graduate of Evanston Township High School and has worked at the Dominick’s grocery store on Green Bay Road just north of our athletic offices for 17 years. He’s a sports fanatic, is active in the Evanston and Chicago communities and has one of the biggest hearts we’ve ever experienced. He also has a developmental disability, which makes him all the more — as he would say — “amazing.”

Kevin has a couple of passions in life that he shares with us, in particular his love of all 19 of our NU varsity sports teams and his schedule card collection from teams across the country. We thank our season ticket holders and boosters in a myriad of ways, and we want to extend the same thank you to Kevin in a way that’s unique and special by launching “Schedule Cards for Kevin.” We are asking our alumni, fans, family and fellow athletic programs to drop a schedule card in the mail to us so that we can make Kevin’s collection as big as the heart he shares daily with our coaches, student-athletes and staff.

Exhibit (Class) A (Short-Season)

You rarely see pure joy like the wide eyes, bright smile and shaking hands that come to Kevin every time we hand him a card. For a fan who builds a big part of his life around supporting our student-athletes and programs, and who has been a great friend to our staff, thank you in advance for helping us say thank you to Kevin.

As Kevin says: “Great job, Wildcats! Amazing!”

Send any schedule cards or ballpark promos you may have to:

Schedule Cards for Kevin

c/o Northwestern Athletic Communications

1501 Central St.

Evanston, IL 60208

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So there you go. I suspect, nay, KNOW, that many employees of Minor League Baseball teams read this blog. So drop one of your schedules in the mail, and then let me know that you have done so. Let’s make Kevin’s collection a whole lot bigger!

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